David O'Brien celebrates after scoring for Morton against Airdrie (Image: Garry Williamson/SNS)

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Airdrie 0 Morton 4

DAVID O'BRIEN netted Morton’s opener and set up No.2 – then revealed he almost missed the game through injury.

The league leaders tore Airdrie to shreds with goals from O’Brien , Colin McMenamin, Peter MacDonald and Kyle Wilkie.

O’Brien was delighted with his contribution but confessed: “I only started training on Thursday after a bit of a hamstring strain from the Cup game against Dundee.

“But I felt fresh and ready to go and it paid off. I was delighted to get the first. It helped the game was on an artificial surface because if it had been grass then there’s a chance the ball would have bobbled.”

Morton sizzled from the start and got the opener in 24 minutes. McMenamin’s quick throw released MacDonald who fed O’Brien to slot the ball into the bottom right.

They added their second a minute from the break. This time O’Brien picked out McMenamin to tuck away from eight yards. MacDonald continued the scoring seven minutes into the second half with a first-time shot from Michael Tidser’s cross.

And Wilkie rifled in the fourth on the hour after evading two tackles.

Airdie’s Marc Warren picked up a second yellow with six minutes left and Ricki Lamie saw red at the death for aiming a headbutt at Peter Weatherson after booting the ball into the away section.

Morton boss Allan Moore said: “We were great from start to finish.”

Airdrie gaffer Jimmy Boyle said: “We gave up and got what we deserved. As for Ricki’s red card, Weatherson goaded him into it.”

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Livingston 2 Dumbarton 3

IAN MURRAY insisted the stunning scissor-kick strike from Bryan Prunty that set resurgent Sons on their way to victory was one of the best he has goals ever seen.

The frontman stunned Livi after four minutes when he took Paul McGinn’s cross on his chest with his back to goal before smashing home a fantastic overhead kick.

Dumbarton lost the lead twice in a bad-tempered thriller before Scott Agnew struck from the spot to give them a crucial win.

Gaffer Murray said: “It really was a fantastic goal from Bryan and one that deserved to be scored on a bigger stage.

“The technique he showed was terrific and it’s among the best I’ve ever witnessed.”

Jordan Morton fired Livi level midway through the half with a close-range finish after getting on to an Iain Russell cutback.

But Dumbarton were ahead again a minute later when Andy McNeil spilled an Agnew cross to Alan Lithgow and Andy Graham was on hand to tap home.

Jamie Ewings was Sons’ hero with a double save from Tony Andreu’s header and Russell’s follow-up as the home side hunted for a leveller.

But the keeper turned villain when he scythed down Russell in the box. The felled forward netted the resulting penalty to make it 2-2 at the break. But Agnew bagged the winner for Dumbarton in 69 minutes after Kyle Jacobs hauled down Prunty in the penalty area.

Sons were reduced to 10 men when ref Paul Robertson sent off Mark Gilhaney for dissent as he was being subbed.

Lions’ sub Danny Mullen was denied by the post after rounding Ewings late on but Dumbarton held on to win.

Livi boss Gareth Evans said: “We performed well enough at times but it’s a disappointing result.”

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Cowdenbeath 4 Falkirk 1

STEVEN PRESSLEY Pressley branded his players “soft” and admitted it was his worst afternoon in three years with the Bairns.

Falkirk got off to the perfect start as Lyle Taylor scored inside two minutes.

But they capitulated in the final hour of the match as Cowdenbeath came from behind to claim their first win in 17 league games.

And Pressley was fuming with his young side’s performance.

He said: “After two set-backs in the space of a few minutes we completely lost our way.

“In the end that was my most disappointing afternoon in my three years at this club.

“The things I’ve been continuously talking about over the past few months were missing and I’ve spoken to them in the dressing room at length about that.

“We need to become more aggressive. We were too soft and we didn’t demand from each other. The boys didn’t get fingers in each other’s faces and say, ‘That’s not good enough’.”